1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to configuration systems and, more particularly, to a method for configuring hardware modules in an automation system, comprising opening or creating a project in a project configuration software package, opening or generating, in the project, a station having a number of slots, opening a hardware catalog comprising a plurality of hardware module master data records, and inserting at least one hardware module master data record for a hardware module from the hardware catalog into the station.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automation systems have one or more interconnected stations. Each of the stations preferably has a modular construction and can comprise different hardware modules. As a general rule, the hardware modules form the smallest unit of the automation system and are combined in a hardware catalog for a plant commissioning engineer. In the catalog, each hardware module is assigned an order number, for example. The project management and configuration of hardware modules in the automation system can be performed, for example, by a project configuration software package, such as Step 7 from Siemens, for example. This means that after the project configuration software package is called a corresponding user interface is opened. A project is then generated for the plant to be automated, for the machine or for each station. The hardware modules are then configured in this project, in other words, a slot in the station is assigned to the hardware modules to be parameterized. Following successful configuration and parameterization, this configuration is saved and loaded into the automation system. The corresponding methodology is known, for example, from the “Einführung in den SIMATIC-Manager” (Introduction to the SIMATIC Manager) by Walter, 14.05.2003.
EP 1 480 092 B1 also discloses a method for project management of an automation system.
Special requirements apply to the technology employed for hardware modules in the automation technology sector. The hardware modules are normally installed directly in a production environment, for example in control cabinets or directly on a machine.
On account of the deployment location of the hardware modules, special requirements exist, for example, with respect to electromagnetic compatibility, shock, vibrations, as are also described inter alia in International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard 61131-2. It has furthermore become established as a quality standard that automation components or the hardware modules are capable of being used at high ambient temperatures up to 60° C. or even 65° C. On account of the harsh industrial environment, free convection cooling is resorted to as a general rule for heat dissipation from the hardware modules because built-in fans in the device tend, on the one hand, to suffer from soiling and, on the other hand, significantly reduce the MTBF of the devices. In addition to the high ambient temperatures and the requirement for passive cooling, the requirements relating to shock and vibration also render the design of the cooling for powerful electronic components considerably more difficult in the industrial environment.
Electrical and electronic components built into the hardware modules, such as for a multi-core processor system, are frequently only specified up to ambient temperatures of 85° C. or housing temperatures of less than 100° C. Accordingly, on account of the high ambient temperatures permitted in industrial environments only slight temperature differences from the specified maximum temperatures of the components used are therefore available. A maximum permissible power loss in the system is thereby also greatly limited. A limitation of the maximum permissible power loss directly limits the available computing power of the processor system employed in each case or of the entire hardware module.
From the product world of personal computers, it is known to dynamically customize the computing power of a system to the currently prevailing conditions. These methods referred to, for example, as turbo modes, on the one hand, or as throttling, on the other hand, are employed, for example, with laptops and other mobile devices.
With this known method it is, however, disadvantageous that these methods result in considerable fluctuations in the available computing power depending on the currently prevailing conditions. Such types of methods are not as a rule suitable for hardware modules in the automation technology sector because a constant computing power and therewith a stable cycle time or constant response times for the production process are of vital importance for the applications running in the hardware modules.
Hardware modules for the automation technology sector are, as a rule, currently designed such that with respect to a processor clock, the number of processor cores used and the memories used can be reliably cooled in the event of maximum guaranteed ambient conditions. At lower ambient temperatures and therewith a higher permissible power loss the hardware modules could be operated at a considerably higher performance level.
A dynamic customization of the computing power based on the currently prevailing ambient conditions is not performed in the case of industrial modules. This is intended to avoid the situation in which the computing power of the hardware module, and thus also of the production process to be automated, is not influenced by the ambient conditions and problems are therefore avoided in the production process.
A maximum achievable computing power of the hardware module or of an automation component employed is therefore influenced essentially by the maximum guaranteed ambient temperature. Even a slight reduction in the maximum ambient temperature for a particular application enables a significant increase in the computing power of the hardware module.